Single Tier Brew Stand with BCS460 Complete Build

[Cardog]

First, I wanted to thank everyone on this forum for their contributions to HBT. I have literally learned 90% of what I know about brewing and putting this brew stand together from this forum. So, as a “thank you” …it’s my turn to give back to the community by posting my build thread.

I am here to share advice and answer all of your questions. So this is not just to show off my rig. I am truly trying to give back here.

This brew stand is already completed and documented with pictures but I will be sharing the process a little at a time so I can share every step in detail and answer questions along the way.

And it starts off just like this:

 

[Cardog]

Time to get to work. Having a band saw makes the cuts extremely accurate and as you can see, I can cut just a sliver if I need to make an adjustment.

 

[Cardog]

Since I had drawn the brew stand with Sketchup, I was able to cut every single piece before welding. Although it is not the most efficient way to work, I wasn't racing against the clock like some other paid projects I do. When you do it this way, you have to cut everything a 1/16"-3/32" shorter than your actual dimension. This will assure everything will fit like a glove the first time without having to go back and trim pieces.

So therefore I can show you this:

 

[jcav]

Check out those precision cuts, can't wait to see the rest of this rig come together!

John

 

[Cardog]

Because of the size of the brew stand and the huge angle clamps, I had to weld the first part in 2 steps.





Mad welding skills that unfortunately get grounded down (expect for the inside corner) to perfection to look like one piece!

 

[BrunDog]

Tease!! Put 'em all up!!

 

[Cardog]

Now we can use all 4 clamps for the third dimension to create the frame.

 

[Cardog]

Tease!! Put 'em all up!!

Im working on it! I have over 100 pics. At least this won't be one of those 6 month long build threads.

 

[BrunDog]

Sorry, I thought you were stopping after the cuts pics! Keep 'em rolling!!

 

[Cardog]

You will find throughout the build that I spared no expense on this project and have designed this as an extremely "clean" build. Starting with a custom gas manifold that will be integrated into the frame.

3 holes were drilled and 1/2" couplers were welded in place. I welded end caps (towards the inside of the square tubing) plugged the couplers then pressure tested with about 20 psi of air. This would be more than enough as natural gas runs well under a pound.

 

[Cardog]

As part of keeping the design clean, I have elected not to do manual switches and rely solely on the BCS460 interface. You will also see that everything was designed and engineered to have all the wires run through the inside of the frame.

As you can see, I have drilled large 1 1/4" holes to accommodate this feat. I have more photos that will elaborate on this later.







Here is the pump mount and as you can see there are 2 holes: 1 for the pump power wire and 1 for the temperature sensor.





These are all the pieces that make up the design to run the wiring through the frame.





Here I tack welded some washers at a 45* angle (to keep a low profile) to the gas manifold in order to secure the wiring for the gas valves.

 

[Cardog]

Ok, so now I welded the gas manifold in place. In the second pic, you'll notice the 1 1/4" holes in which the wiring will feed through.







I will be using aluminum diamond plate for some nice trim work. This shows the 3/4" square tubing welded in place specifically to mount the diamond plate. It will be a tedious job but I will have to drill and tap into the 3/4" tubing to bolt the diamond plate in using stainless steel cap screws.




More work done on the stand.......

 

[Cardog]

And now for the kettle seats.

I cut out a piece of wood for the exact inside dimension for the kettle seats to use a jig and clamped all 8 pieces to tack weld in place.







So basically I used the first one I made as a jig for the next 2.





Then it was tacked in place.....




Then welded.....




And there you have it!

 

[Cardog]

So obviously these kettle seats are going to get extremely hot with direct flames. So after much research I have decided to use VHT flame proof paint. With this particular product it's all about the curing process. I taped off the ends so I have bare metal still exposed to be able to weld the seats in place.

The curing process calls for 15 min at 200*F then cool for 30 min, then another 15 min at 400*F and again cool for 30 min, and last....15 min at 600*F. So how the hell was I supposed to do that??!! Well, below is a picture that tells a 1000 words. Just don't tell my SWMBO what I did that morning while she was at work






Notice the bare metal how it blued from the heat in the oven






After all said and done I was able to get it clamped up.......




........ and welded in place

 

[Drumminguy81]

Looks excellent! Wanna build me a new brew stand? Lol

 

[BrunDog]

This is like binge watching!

 

[Cardog]

Looks excellent! Wanna build me a new brew stand? Lol

Sure, if you're local to me.

 

[Cardog]

Ok, it's time to build the frame for the box in which the electronics will be housed in. The square tubing here is 1/2"










The other thing I wanted to point in these pics is the framing for the floor where the diamond plate will sit on. It sits about 1/8" below the 1 1/2" main frame. So when the 1/16" thick diamond plate is installed it will be recessed about 1/16". It will be basically be silicone glued in which will seal it from the fluid spills leaking in the box.










Now that the clamps are out of the way, here is a better look.

 

[Drumminguy81]

Sure, if you're local to me.

Im not, however I have family in sd and ill actually be there this weekend.. maybe down the road when yours is finished ill hit you up and discuss it..

 

[Cardog]

When BrunDog said it was like binge watching.....It's because the entire build is completed and I actually have several brews on it already. So if you want to hit me up when you are in town, I would be happy to share.

 

[Cardog]

These pics will show the design to allow the wiring to go through the frame and down into the electric enclosure. The 2 large holes that are close together will be covered with a triangular piece (you'll notice that in the final pics). And if you are wondering why I just didn't drill through frame piece that goes across......well, that's the gas manifold.

Like I said, it is a simple clean design. There is only 3 sets of wires: temperature sensors, gas valves and the pumps that's it!








Here you have a close up on where the gas valve wiring goes through.






This is the right behind the mount for the pumps where you see the holes for the temperature sensor and the power wire for the pump runs through.

 

[Cardog]

Now for some peripherals. The brackets shown are for the wort chiller and the water filter.

 

[orangehero]

Looks like you put a lot of careful thought into the planning. Awesome welds and craftsmanship, can't wait to see the rest!

 

[Cardog]

Yup, once you know what kind of process you want to do and a vision for all the other stuff....it's software like Sketchup that makes it a lot easier to plan and do.

Anyways that pretty much does it for the welding of the brew stand. Now we will get into the fun stuff with the paint, assembly, wiring and finished pictures. Just give me another 2 days or so and I should have the build thread completed for you guys.

 

[jcav]

Wow, looks like you got mad fabricating skills as well! Looking awesome, keep the pics coming, loving this thread!

John

 

[Cardog]

Now that it is all welded up, it's time to prime. This was primed with a 2K epoxy primer.













And for the paint...... I painted this with an acrylic urethane automotive paint. Although you don't really see in the pic, it is a metallic paint.

 

[Cardog]

You guys are probably wondering what the dead space is on the bottom of the stand. Well......it's for a drawer for all my gear!









Had to weld a piece of flat bar so I can mount the drawer slides.

 

[Cardog]

Ok, so now we move on to the electrical enclosure. The enclosure is made from 16 ga. aluminum sheet.






How do you cut the aluminum you ask? There's a tool for that!









And how it looks assembled.

 

[Cardog]

I know what you guys are thinking.........what the hell is inside the enclosure. Well not much really. Because of my clean design with no manual switches, all we have really is just 5 relays and 1 transformer. 2 relays control the pumps and the other 3 relays control the gas valves. Yes that's right I have a gas valve for the boil kettle. The transformer is the step down to24V for the gas valves.





Since the BCS460 is located permanently in the garage next to the fermenter everything is connected by Cat5 cables. The other plug you see is the 120V power.













If you click for a close up, you can see the stainless steel caps crews. I chose these purely for aesthetics.

 

[Cardog]

Now you can see how the wires get routed.









I have a temperature sensor for the wort chiller on the side of the stand.








Here is how the gas valve wires go through.